4th September 2010
Overblown is a word that suits everything Muse do. Their stage – and it really is THEIR stage, they don’t just go and hire one like everyone else – contains a grand piano, multi headed guitars, giant eyeballs and lighty up suits. It is 4 stories high and looks like a block of flats from 1984 – the book, not the year. Their set spans an impressive two hours and even at today’s inflated admission prices it was more than possible to see where everybody’s money had been spent. The sheer scale of the construction involved means their three UK gigs are a week apart.
Over 50,000 people gathered to pay homage to the Devon legends that make up Muse, who can easily be considered one of the top five bands in the world – a ten year plod more than a sprint but there’s no denying they belong there. Matt Bellamy, Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard arrived on stage to a back drop of red flags – their multi storey stage then became a giant video wall with footage from their videos mixing with their performance. As with most rock behemoths these days their show can be appreciated as much in the mosh pit at the edge of the stage as it can from a quarter of a mile away sipping a corporate beer in the pavilion.
Muse are about as far from being our cup of tea as it is possible to imagine – songs about mythical machinery and the universe as a whole are just that bit too big for our little heads – but it’s undeniable that they can entertain. A bit like going to watch We Will Rock You instead of Chekov, sure there’s fireworks and bluster but it’s not what we listen to music for, total escapism rather than someone with a guitar telling you his girlfriend has left him.
Bizarrely it seemed to make for a family day out too – 15 year old kids and Guardian reading Dads awkwardly trying to meet in the middle somewhere. But maybe that’s it – a Muse gig isn’t an alternative to watching a band anymore, it’s more like a trip to Alton Towers.
Muse Set List:
Uprising
Supermassive Black Hole
New Born + riff
Map of the Problematique
Riff + Butterflies & Hurricanes
Guiding Light
Hysteria + Back in Black riff
Citizen Erased
Nishe
United States of Eurasia
Feeling Good
MK Jam
Undisclosed Desires
Resistance
Starlight
House of the Rising Sun riff + Time Is Running Out Unnatural Selection + Power of Soul riff
Encore 1
Exogenesis: Symphony Part I (Overture)
Stockholm Syndrome
Encore 2
Take a Bow
Plug In Baby
Man with a Harmonica intro + Knights of Cydonia
Watch the video for Supermassive Black Hole by Muse here…
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Words by Same Teens